For Our Future
by icebite253
Summary: The war with Alvarez is over. Now Gajeel must face his past in order to have a happy future with the one he loves. Rated T for future plans. I do not own Fairy tail. [Gale]
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone this is my first fanfic, all reviews are welcome.**

Chapter 1:

Gajeel awakes in a cold sweat, breathing heavily from the horrible memories that had haunted his sleep once again, he's been having this dream every night since he joined Fairy Tail all those years ago. He stares blankly as he thinks back on his dream, he dreamed back to his days in Phantom Lord, the night he attacked Levy and her team. He remembered how he had enjoyed hurting them and pining the up on a tree like he had crucified them. The thought of him enjoying it sickened him, he was a monster back then and if it hadn't been for Makarov convincing him to join Fairy Tail he would still be that monster to this day. He had found his guiding light in none other than the small blue haired mage he had hurt long ago, Gajeel knew she had long forgiven him for his actions and so had the rest of the guild, but Gajeel would never forgive himself. He wanted to atone for what he had done to her by keeping her safe from harm and helping her to become stronger, never did he think he would fall in love with the girl. Gajeel lost his train of thought when he heard Lily come walking in, "Finally awake I see" the black cat said while jumping onto the bed next to Gajeel. "You look terrible, did you have that dream again?" Lily asks concerningly, "Don't worry about it Lil" Gajeel said as he got out of bed. "Alright then, get dressed already so we can head to the guild hall" Lily said while strapping his sword to his back, Gajeel walks off to get ready without saying a word.

Gajeel and Lily head over to the bar. "Hey Mira, can I get some iron over here" Gajeel says as they sit down. "Coming right up" Mira says cheerfully. When Gajeel got his meal him and Lily left the bar and sat together at a table away from the small group of members in the guild. Things have started to calm down after the war with Alvarez, but there was still much work to be done. Most of the guild members were out on jobs helping make repairs that were caused by the fighting. Gajeel looked around the guild not seeing Levy or the other members of team Shadow Gear around. "Must have gone on a job" he mumbled to himself. Suddenly he hears a soft voice calling from behind him, "Hey Gajeel, Lily", they turned around to see Levy walking into the guild hall.

"You guys want to go on a job together?" she asks the Dragon slayer and Exceed as she sits down across from them. "Sure shrimp, what job did you have in mind," Gajeel said as he finished off his iron. "There's this job I saw last night before heading home that offers a rare book as a reward, as well as 60 thousand jewel" Levy says excitedly. "What exactly is the job we are supposed to do?" Lily asks, "We'll from what the request said, there is a monster guarding some ancient tablets found at a dig site, our job is to slay the monster and get the tablets back safely, we will also get a bonus reward if we help with translating the tablets" Levy says while getting up. "I'll go accept the job, let's meet at the train station in an hour" she says then turns and walks away towards the request board.

After a 3 hour train ride Gajeel, Levy, and Lily finally arrive at their destination. "Well let's go meet with the client and find out what kind of monster I get to punch" Gajeel says with a smirk. "Not only that, we should also find out more about the tablets we need to retrieve and translate" Levy says, leading the way to the client. They arrive at an old log cabin 30 minutes from town, Levy knocks on the door, an old man opens the door just enough to look out and see who is there. "What do you want?" the old man says nervously, "We're from Fairy Tail, we are here for the job you posted" Levy says and holds out the request for the man to see, "Ah yes, please come in and have a seat, would you like something to drink" he says as he closes the door behind them. "No thank you" Levy says as they sit down, "We were wondering what kind of information you can give us on the monster we are supposed to fight, and the importance of the tablets?" Lily says. "Well, we don't know much about the tablets really, all we know is that they are from a long forgotten ancient civilization, we think they might contain myths and legends from this ancient culture" the old man says as he finally sits down across from them. "And what about the monster" Gajeel says, "We determined the monster is a rare kind of basilisk, it has snow white scales, glowing green eyes, and can spite a burning venom over large distances, it's the most terrifying thing I've ever laid my eyes on" the man says nervously. "Thank you for the information, we will take care of the monster tomorrow and get those tablets back for you" Levy said as they made their way to the door. Once outside Levy sighed heavily, "This job is going to be difficult", "Don't worry about shrimp, you just leave the basilisk to us and get those tablets out of there so we don't have to hold back from smashing stuff, now let's get back to town already I'm getting hungry", "yea, I'm getting a little hungry also" Levy said and smiles at Gajeel.

Later that night, Gajeel is laying in bed staring at the roof not able to fall asleep. His thoughts keep taking him back to his recurring dream. Lily wakes up and notices Gajeel is still awake, usually he would have been asleep by now. "Can't sleep?" Lily asks as he sits up, "yea, just caught up thinking is all" Gajeel says, "You know, you should talk to Levy about your dream, I think it might help you come to terms with the past and you'll be able to sleep better" Lily says concerningly. "Maybe when we finish this job" Gajeel says before yawning, the two wish each other goodnight and fall fast asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you all for the reviews, they are very helpful in making my writing better.**

Chapter 2:

The trip to the dig site was longer than expected, especially since Gajeel refused to ride in a magic mobile. The dig site looked like a small abandoned village just outside ancient ruins hidden in the cliffside. The 3 mages split up, searching the site for the tablets and monster. They came up empty, now with absolute certainty that what they feared had been true. The tablets and basilisk are inside the ruins, making their job much more challenging.

Gajeel made a plan to lure the basilisk out of the ruins, him and Lily would fight it outside and keep it from returning to the ruins. While the Gajeel and Lily are fighting, Levy will sneak into the ruins to find the tablets and get them to a safe distance, once the basilisk has been slain the mages will meet back at the hotel.

It wasn't hard for them to lure the basilisk out, the plan seemed to work perfectly. Until they noticed the tablets were actually basilisk scales, and that they were still attached to the beast. "When we get back that old man is dead" Gajeel tells, the basilisk is much stronger than they had anticipated, at least the tablets won't be broken easily.

Lily flies above the basilisk's head, dodging the venom it spits at him, with the beast distracted Gajeel and Levy run up to attack from the bottom where its scales are softer. Gajeel strikes the basilisk's stomach with an iron dragon's sword and Levy follows up with solid script freeze. The basilisk thrashes around in pain, spitting venom blindly, hoping to kill its attackers. Lily flies down at a high speed slicing the basilisk with his magic sword.

The basilisk swings its tail, it connects with Lily and sends him falling to the ground. "Lily are you okay" levy says running to him, the basilisk slams its tail in front of Levy blocking her path. The basilisk stares down at her before spitting venom at her. Levy covers her head with her arms cowering from the venom flying at her. Levy couldn't do anything but wait for the venom to make contact with her body, but it never did, Levy looks up to see Gajeel had turned his skin to iron and shielded from the venom. Gajeel looked pissed off, shadows started to swirl around him. He turned around and with all his strength roared at the basilisk, the roar of iron and shadows was enough to finish off the basilisk.

The mages managed to defeat the basilisk, but not without some injuries. They got to work at collecting the scales that the ancients for some reason used for inscriptions from the basilisk, now for the dreaded walk back to town. They get back to town and after some protesting from Gajeel, Levy goes to meet with the client alone, while Gajeel and Lily go to the hotel to take care of their injuries. Levy goes to the library where they planned on meeting so they could translate the tablets, luckily Levy had plenty of time on the way back to town to translate it so she could get back to the others sooner.

Levy tossed a bag with the tablets on the table in front of the client, "you never told us the tablets were the basilisk's scales" Levy says angrily. After an intense argument and quite a lot of apologies Levy finally gave the client the translation. They told a story of a man with an overwhelming amount of pure dark magic, this man saved the people of the ancient city and gave them the basilisk as a sacred protector. Both Levy and the client were left with questions that would likely go unanswered, Levy received payment for the job and returned to the hotel to see how Gajeel and Lily are doing.

When Levy returns to the room Lily is sitting on the table eating a kiwi and Gajeel is in his room asleep, Levy goes to check on Gajeel hoping his burns aren't too severe. Gajeel wakes up when Levy walks in and sits next to him on the bed. "How bad are the burns"

"don't worry about it shrimp, I've had worse burns from salamander"

"If you say so. Hey Gajeel, who do you think the man from the tablets could be?"

"Maybe it was Zeref, Mavis said he wasn't always so cruel."

"No, it couldn't be him. The city was in ruins long before his time."

"Maybe gramps will know, we can ask him tomorrow when we get back to Magnolia."

"Yea, maybe he does" Levy smiles, "Goodnight Gajeel". Levy gets up and runs out of the room before Gajeel can respond.

"Gihi, night shrimp" he says to himself before going back to sleep.

The next morning they catch an early train ride back to Magnolia, Gajeel as usual was having a horrible time because of the motion sickness. Levy however was entranced in the book they received as a reward. It was a tale of a king who was cursed by a demon. His curse was to live forever and watch as his realm would rise and fall. Unable to do anything the king watched as his realm was consumed by darkness and forgotten. The king felt as though he failed his people and dedicated his eternal life to helping people in need as atonement for his failure and dishonor. Before Levy knew it the train arrived at Magnolia, the mages decided to go straight to the guild hall, all of them hungry from the traveling and Levy hoping the master may know something about the man. Levy didn't know why but she felt the need to find out who he was.

They arrive at the guild and head for the bar and order food, glad to finally be back from that job. "Hey Mira is master here, I have some questions for him about something from our last job"

"He just left for a meeting, it may be a couple days before he returns"

"I guess I will just have to do some research then. Maybe I can get Lu to help me, I'm sure she'd be excited to find out the answers too. Although she's currently out on a job, I could probably get Gajeel to help in the meantime." Levy joins Gajeel and Lily at a table and waits for their food.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the long wait everyone. I started playing Zelda again and lost track of time. I hope you enjoy this next chapter.**

In the guild library Levy searches for books that can give her the answers she is seeking. She brought Gajeel along with her, his only purpose so far is holding the books she pulls off the shelves.

"Why am I here again shrimp"

"You said you would help me with my research until Lucy gets back"

"Don't you think you have enough books already", Gajeel places another stack of books with the already existing stacks on the table.

Levy looks at the pile of books on the table,"I guess we can wait on getting the rest of the books for now."

They sit at the table and start reading through the books, it wasn't long before Gajeel fell asleep from boredom. After hours of reading Levy was able to find some information on the mysterious man. The man was only ever mentioned in the books regarding Earthland's history, he seemed to be present for every major event that took place. Levy was about to give up as nothing she read gave any solid answers to who the man was, until a passage from a book on the second trade war caught her eye. The book had more than just mentioned his presence, the man seemed to be actively participating in the course of history this time. After more reading Levy found out that the man had worked very closely with the Fairy Tactician and many believed him to be part of the Fairy Tail guild.

Levy and Gajeel spent all day in the library and were able to find a decent lead on the mysterious man.

"I wonder if Mavis ever talked to Master about this guy, after all she seemed to be close to him"

"You can ask him tomorrow when he returns shrimp." Gajeel walks Levy home, "night shrimp, see you tomorrow"

"Goodnight Gajeel" Levy waves to Gajeel as he walks away.

The next day Levy is greeted by Lucy who just arrived in Magnolia from her job with Natsu an hour earlier.

"Hey Lu, I thought you wouldn't be back until tomorrow"

"Tell me about it, we had to take the last train last night because they were going to be working on the tracks"

"How'd that go with Natsu?"

"He wasn't happy about it. He tried to make us walk home"

"Hey Lu, I have something I need your help with, on our last job Gajeel and I found out about some this guy from long ago with pure dark magic. I don't know why but I get the feeling I've met him before, would you help me find out who he is?"

"Of course I will! This will be super exciting, have you asked Master if he knows anything?"

"Not yet he's been out of town, he should be getting back sometime today"

"Well in the meantime let's go over what you've already figured out and check some books in the library"

"Good idea I've still got half my list of books to go through"

"Let's get going, can't be wasting time here can we"

Levy and Lucy head to the library to continue their research. A couple hours later Gajeel goes to the library.

"Hey shrimp Master has returned"

Levy looks up from her book "come on Lu, let's go ask master about this guy."

Levy grabs the book on the second trade and her new book from her last job, Lucy and Levy get up and go to talk to Master Makarov.

"Master we were wondering if we could ask you some questions regarding a person who worked with fairy tail during the second trade war?" Levy says and the 2 girls sit down at the bar by Master Makarov "This book says he may have been a member of the guild"

"Hmm, why are you so interested in this man?"

"I have a feeling I've met him before, I want to find out when"

"Very well. I will tell you what I know about him, but you will have to wait for later"

"Thank you Master"

Levy and Lucy leave the bar, going their separate ways. Levy joins Gajeel and Lily who are talking about going on a job soon, while Lucy sits at a table with Natsu, it wasn't long before Gray and Erza had joined them.

Later that day the guild was just about empty, most of the members had gone home as a storm had rolled in. The only members left are all sitting around together.

"The storm is getting stronger by the second, I think we will be here for awhile" Levy says to Gajeel while comforting Lily.

"All right children, it's time for you to get the answers you seek" Everyone looks over at Master Makarov.

"The man you are looking for is named Shadow…"

Meanwhile a strange man arrives in Magnolia, he's dressed in dark clothes and black leather jacket, his face hidden by a half face mask with an odd symbol on it and a hood worn low, his eyes seeming filled with anger glow a blood red. The man walks through Magnolia making his way to the far end of town, to a certain building that smells of alcohol and a freshly made stew.

"So Shadow was one of the very first people to join fairy tail? How is he still alive after all this time? What about his magic? From what I read he uses magic of pure darkness"

Suddenly the doors fly open, and the strange man walks in. Everyone jumps out of their seats untrusting of the strange man.

"Who are you and why are you here?" Erza says pointing her sword toward the man.

"I've come for an important relic I left in the care of Mavis Vermilion"

"Mavis is gone, she died months ago in battle so I suggest you leave"

"That's enough children, he is not our enemy"

Makarov walks to the man and hands him what appears to be a shard of blade. The man looks at the table and a book catches his eye.

"That book, do you find it an enjoyable story?"

Levy looks at the book she got from her job, "Yes, it's a very sad tale but I really like it. Although the end could use some work. it just ends abruptly, never bringing closure to the cursed king"

"The story doesn't end there little fairy, the king's tale is far from over"

"Wait, do you know the rest of the story? Will you tell me? I really want to know how it ends"

The man makes a book appear out of thin air and hands it to Levy. "This is the second half of the book, I hope it is to your liking"

"Thank you so much, I can't wait to read it. Who are you by the way"

The man starts walking out of the guild hall, he stops just outside the doors.

"My name… is Shadow."


End file.
